All posts in attributes

If you own a small business that is essentially you, and you want it to grow beyond what it is, then what I’m going to talk about here is going to really matter at some point in the future. If your business is larger with people in it then this really matters now.

What you need to do – whether this will apply at some point in the future or applies now – is spot and nurture your best people. Sounds obvious right? But all too often businesses lose good people they really didn’t need to and can’t afford to.

Your good people really are, and will be, amongst your best assets and will make all the difference to the future success of your business so it’s worth making the effort to find your best people and to nurture them. Here’s why…

After receiving some interesting responses to my last post, where basically I highlighted that you actually only have about 6 months worth of productive work days left in 2015 I wanted to talk more about it and hopefully give you something that will help you increase your own productivity.

In my previous post I took you through some steps to get your year started in the right way. I hope that you followed what I said and that you now have a clear strategic destination that you are heading for because if you’re not on your way or if you’re heading off in the wrong direction or not fully prepared then you’re losing precious time. And I mean precious – if you think, because we’re only in week 3 out of 52, you’ve got plenty of time on your hands…think again.

It’s really important that you have because here’s the scary bit – how’s this for focusing the mind – even though we’re only into our 3rd full week of the year…

You are in fact already almost through the first quarter of the year!

What? No I’m not. I’m in my 3rd week of the first month…not even a third of the way through the first quarter.
You are if you think in terms of productive working days. And it gets worse… Continue reading →

If you have empathy you can wear someone else’s shoes. If you wear others’ shoes you can build stronger relationships and can communicate better because you can think more like them.

Your biggest asset is your people and having empathy means you connect with them better, understand their challenges and encourage them to talk to you about their ideas… you’ll bring out the best in them.

Your second biggest asset is your products or services. You have brilliant products or services that could make a huge difference to a person or a business. If only your prospects understood, if only they ‘got it’ as much as you do. So who’s shoes should you be wearing now?

The best way to have your prospects or customers understand and appreciate the benefits of your offering to them, is to put yourself in their shoes. If you were in their shoes, what would you want to hear that would make it a no-brainer for you to purchase that product or service? This is the starting point for your marketing.

Have empathy and walk in the shoes of others. You will be a far stronger leader and more successful for it.

Politics aside, the one thing Maggie Thatcher had over pretty much any prime minister since, is a strong vision.

She had a vision that anyone, from any background should have the opportunity to achieve their ambitions.

She had a number of missions to make that vision happen including owning your own council house, owning shares in companies that the country relied on, reigning in the power of the unions, not giving Brussels the decision-making powers they sought over the UK and so on.

She had strong values based around the right of the ‘common man’ to be whomever he or she wanted to be.

Look at your vision, mission and values. Do they exist? Are they known and understood by all in your company and other stakeholders? Along with your purpose, do they guide you and give you the confidence to make the right, and sometimes tough, decisions and to stay on course to achieving them?

You know how to speak to prospects and customers, how to build relationships, provide the information they need and show that you can meet their needs.

But what about your people?

Who in your business, whether on the phone or by email, could potentially speak to a customer? If you don’t know or haven’t checked that they speak to prospects and customers as you would then you may be losing business without knowing.

Here are a couple of examples to illustrate my point.

Two different small businesses have lost business recently…mine. In both cases I walked away because of a frustrating experience with someone who worked there.

One was a graphic design and print outfit who created something that wasn’t particularly good. I asked for some changes via email and the designer (not the owner or manager) replied using exclamation marks.

Using exclamation marks is the equivalent of shouting which killed any relationship building and I found another to do the work. I have now used this second company for a number of jobs and spent thousands of pounds which could have gone to the first company.

The other business that l walked away from was an IT company whom I asked a series of questions by email with regards to the hosting of a new web site. I specifically asked that they answer my questions because they came from my web developer and with these specific answers we could decide the best way to host this site and whether to use them or not.

This email went to the business owner who immediately passed it to an engineer to respond. The engineer said I could have whatever I wanted, threw a load of jargon at me and gave a monthly hosting price. He didn’t answer a single question directly and gave me nothing that I could do a comparison with. It was quite an easy solution to not go with them.

Whoever can answer the phone with an outside line, receive and send emails, network or even bump into someone who might be interested in your products or services can potentially lose you business without you ever knowing. And what if it’s a new prospect that could have turned out to be one of your best customers?

Make sure your people can talk to prospects and customers, can extol your vision and the benefits your company offers just as well as you can. Provide training if necessary.

No only will it help you keep your current customers happy but might just win you new customers and lucrative new contracts to boot.

If you have worked with me or have read my work you’ll know my views on the importance of thinking. Of course, I’m talking about strategic thinking; the kind of thinking that can make a difference to your business and even your life.

As we head towards the end of the year, it’s natural that we will be thinking about 2013; thinking about what we would like to achieve, what we would like to change and how we would like things to be.

The (nice-to-have) problem for most of us is that we will be enjoying our time with loved ones and surrounded by noise and distractions. This can make thinking deeply about next year and how we want to make our businesses stronger and more successful a tad difficult.

Thinking strategically is challenging at the best of times, never mind during this festive season. It’s rare that strategic ideas and thoughts will materialise immediately on demand. One way to help you get started is to plant a couple of seeds and nurture them. So, think about a couple of areas of your business and focus on those…these are your seeds.

These seeds will germinate in the background and as you doze in front of the TV or take an afternoon stroll, thoughts and ideas will begin to form. Your next challenge will be to write down or record the ideas that leap forth. (I often have these thoughts when walking my dog or driving and find a Dictaphone or my mobile a useful tool for recording my thoughts.)

What are the big two or three things you want for your business for 2013? Define them, plant the seeds and get this creative thought process started.

Once you have them, the hardest part is making them happen. Fix in your diary the days or weeks you’ll need to work on this vital exercise and don’t let the demands you’ll face when you return to work override it. This link to a post I wrote in September will help.

If you haven’t yet mapped out your business for 2013, you really need to do this during this break and not start 2013 without some kind of plan.

Meanwhile, let me just take this opportunity to wish you a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

I talked in my last post about the need to pre-plan your strategic planning process. The need to create a core team (if you can), make sure they’re briefed properly and that time for this process has been set in everyone’s’ diaries.

Assuming you have this in place and know the steps you should follow to create a strong plan for next year, the process can still falter and fail if the mindset is wrong.

We all have targets to hit, deadlines to meet, and demands from customers and colleagues to manage and if you, or any member of the team view this planning process as a distraction from these day-today responsibilities, then it is likely to fail before it has begun.

If you don’t view this process as vital to the success of your business then neither will your people and the chances are your business will struggle at some point if it isn’t already.

Assuming you appreciate how important this strategic planning process is to your business then when you create your team, in addition to being properly briefed on the process, expectations and responsibilities, make sure they have the same attitude to the process as you.

Only then will you get the best from them, only then will creativity have a chance to shine, only then will you inspire each other and only then will you have everything in place to create the best strategy you can and take your business to the next level.

Chris Briggs can help you create and implement the right strategy for long term success.
To find out how, click here.

Strategic planning is a vital system to any business, the same as the engine is of a car or the wings of a plane. Like any system, it won’t work if there aren’t people, who know how it works, to look after it and it won’t do anything without people to drive or pilot it and, like a car driven by a boy-racer, could make things worse if managed badly.

When you take friends and family on a long car journey do you stress about the time it’ll take, how many times the kids will ask you, “are we there yet?” or want to stop.And do you just want to get it over and done with and get there as fast as you can. Maybe you’ll skip some breaks but tell yourself you’ll be fine.

As the driver of the car it’s your responsibility to drive legally and safely in the interest of your passengers, other travellers and yourself. Your attitude, along with your skills and other attributes, is crucial to getting you and your passengers to where you want to be in one piece.

It’s the same in business. As a leader, don’t ever forget your responsibility to your people (passengers) to your other stakeholders, including customers and partners (other travellers) and to yourself. And don’t forget how the way you steer your ship and reach your destination affects them.

A working strategic planning system, like your car, the fuel, your maps, will get you to your destination if you, as a leader, have the right attitude towards it. Appreciate that without it you are likely to get lost and struggle to reach your destination as planned.

An integrated strategic planning system is not a nice-to-have luxury when you have the time. It is fundamental to having a healthy business that achieves its goals. Make it central to your business and in return it will keep you on course and get you and your family safely to your destination.

Do you have an integrated strategic planning system that guides you and keeps you on course? Is you attitude helping or hindering your business?

This beautiful image is on my birthday card from my daughter. The caption reads, “With piles, wrinkles, and stiff joints to look forward to, Chris was just happy he’d kept his sense of humour and dashing good looks intact!”

As you can see from my picture, my natural expression isn’t bright and warm. Look at my passport photo and you’d expect to see me holding up a board of numbers. Many times in the past, when I’ve been concentrating, colleagues have asked what was wrong. Nothing, it’s just my natural face.

Apparently, what I do have is a warm smile which transforms my face from that of a nightclub bouncer to a friendly, sensitive soul. As you know, impressions and opinions are made within seconds of meeting and it’s vital to get it right first time. I therefore know to change my expression from one that can make babies cry to one that can make them smile.

Great leaders are open and inviting, warm and friendly; they can put people at ease and build relationships. They can bring out the best in their people, forge strong links with partners and customers and project a positive aura that influences all around them. And it all starts with a friendly face.

Be aware of the impression you project and if your natural expression is anything like mine, or my friend here, then smile … and avoid eating bananas in public.

Your Business Foundation

My name is Christopher Briggs, the author of the best selling book "Your Business Foundation".
I help business owners build their business on a strong foundation that gives them the certainty and control they need to achieve their aims.

Testimonial

“Chris possesses the inherent skills and experience to grow business.”